Last week, the West Contra Costa County Board of Education rejected an appeal by the corporate charter chain Rocketship to open a school in San Pablo! Rocketship’s application had been already turned down earlier this year by the West Contra Costa Unified School District. However, two rejections probably won’t be enough to deter Rocketship. They will likely appeal the decision again to the next highest body, the State Board of Education.

Below is an excerpt from our friends at PublicCore.net who provide a first-hand account of last week’s meeting:

Those opposing the petition from the WCCUSD, if they managed to get off work early enough to sit through an hour of rush hour traffic to attend the 5:00 pm meeting in Pleasant Hill, were greeted outside by a large private bus and a gauntlet of pizza boxes and stacks of purple T-shirts for Rocketship supporters. Inside, the billionaire-backed busload of people who had arrived earlier sat together on one side of the room wearing the matching T-shirts and waving signs they drew from a stack provided for them. The message on many of the signs read: “Parents deserve options. That’s democracy.” Considering that one of the concerns raised by BOE staff was that Rocketship only promised to “consider” holding public meetings once a year in the WCCUSD, the sentiment was not without irony.

Regardless of the obstacles, defenders of public education persisted. And this time, all of the money spent to defeat them was not enough. The final vote, not delivered until 10:20 p.m., denied the petition. One board member later said her vote to deny was based in large part on Rocketship’s inability to answer questions relating to Special Ed.

Voting in FAVOR of the petition:
Belle
Deane
Voting to DENY the petition:
Alleyne
Chavez
Maxwell